“It is never right to associate lawyers with their clients” – the Bars of the UK respond to recent media

Over the past week the Chair of the Bar of England and Wales, the Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland, and the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates have written joint letters to national newspapers warning against the political discrediting of Sir Keir Starmer by suggesting he is associated with the people whom he represented when he practised as a barrister.

The Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Times have printed these letters. The full text of the submitted letters is below.    

Daily Telegraph, 22 December 2023

Available to view on the Telegraph website

Sir,

You give front page prominence (20 December) to the fact that Sir Keir Starmer, whilst at the Bar, acted for some convicted prisoners who turned out to be entitled to be released from prison, and you report the findings of “a trawl of his cases”.

Barristers are professionally obliged to accept properly remunerated cases within their competence and for which they are available. Our code of conduct expressly prohibits a barrister from declining a case because of the barrister’s opinion of the client. We call this the cab rank rule.

This rule promotes access to justice and reflects the fact that the role of lawyer is to advise and represent their client, not to judge their client. Judging is for judges or juries, not for us.

The idea that barristers (or, in Scotland, advocates) should somehow be associated with the causes of those whom they represent is therefore entirely misconceived.

Yours faithfully

Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales
Moira Smyth KC, Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland
Roddy Dunlop KC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates

Sunday Times, 24 December 2023

This is the full text of the letter submitted to the Sunday Times, which was edited for publication in the print edition of the paper:

You report (17 December) that the Conservative Party is hoping to discredit Sir Keir Starmer by creating a dossier identifying some former clients, and suggesting he is associated with the people whom he has represented.

It is never right to associate lawyers with their clients, just because they have represented them, as is made clear by the UN’s Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers. Legal proceedings have fairer outcomes, and command greater respect, when both parties are represented. It is the job of judges and juries to judge. The task of lawyers is simply to advise and to represent. It is an important part of how the Rule of Law works.

Starmer is a barrister, and barristers are under a professional duty, called the cab-rank rule, to accept as clients those who wish to be represented by them. That is why the barristers who, earlier this year, said they would refuse to prosecute climate change protesters were wrong. And it is why the planned criticisms of Starmer are inappropriate.

We therefore hope that the Conservative Party will reconsider its strategy. Attacks based on Starmer’s former clients would be unwise, ignorant, and lowering.

Yours faithfully,

Nick Vineall KC, Chair of the Bar of England and Wales
Moira Smyth KC, Chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland
Roddy Dunlop KC, Dean of the Faculty of Advocates